Various manual and automated production systems for manufacturing confection products have involved an extractor assembly with a clamping mechanism designed to apply a direct compression force to secure a rigid and generally incompressible wooden or plastic stick. For example, various automated confection molding machines have been used for manufacturing frozen confections formed on a stick, such as an ice cream bar. Such molding machines generally utilize a plurality of mold cups that are filled with a confection product. The molding machines also include an extractor assembly configured to receive and grip a plurality of rigid sticks. The extractor assembly is further configured such that each of the sticks is inserted into a corresponding mold cup. The mold cups are then cooled to freeze the confection, forming a frozen confection on a stick.